Northern Slaty Antshrike

A male Northern Slaty Antshrike (Thamnophilus punctatus) in Timehri (Photo by Kester Clarke www.kesterclarke.net)
A male Northern Slaty Antshrike (Thamnophilus punctatus) in Timehri (Photo by Kester Clarke www.kesterclarke.net)

The male Northern Slaty Antshrike (Thamnophilus punctatus) is distributed across much of the Guiana Shield, as well as more locally in the foothills of the east Andes, from southwest Venezuela to eastern Colombia, and thereafter reappearing in southern Ecuador and northernmost Peru.

The male is basically black and gray, while females exhibit a more complex mix of brown, rufous, black, and some white.

The Northern Slaty Antshrike forages for grasshoppers and crickets, cockroaches, praying mantises, stick insects and the larvae of butterflies and moths as well as spiders, scorpions and centipedes.